Additional freezing rain will be possible on Thursday morning for some areas west of I-35. Temperatures in these locations will be below freezing during the morning hours before climbing above freezing during the afternoon. Elsewhere, temperatures will remain at or above freezing throughout the day while periodic rain showers are possible.

The Ice Storm Warning has been canceled and replaced with a Winter Weather Advisory. A Winter Weather Advisory is now in effect for Montague, Cooke, Grayson, Fannin, Young, Jack, Wise, Denton, Stephens, Palo Pinto, Parker, Eastland, Comanche, Erath, Hood, and Somervell Counties until noon Thursday. Freezing drizzle or light freezing rain is expected, with additional accumulations of up to one-tenth of an inch expected. This ice accumulation will result in difficult travel conditions, including during the morning commute Thursday. Slow down and use caution while driving.

Join us Thursday, February 22nd, for our SKYWARN class in Greenville, Texas (Hunt County) at the Fletcher Warren Civic Center. We will be hosting the basic session from 6 to 8 PM. All SKYWARN classes are free and open to all ages. No registration is required!

Join us Thursday, February 22nd, for our SKYWARN class in Fairfield, Texas (Freestone County) at the Civic Center on the Fairgrounds on US Highway 84. We will be hosting the basic session from 6 to 8 PM. All SKYWARN classes are free and open to all ages. No registration is required!

From wildfires and drought to tornadoes and hail, there were numerous weather headlines during April 2011.

A severe weather event began the evening of April 10. During the early morning hours April 11, two tornadoes were spotted in Johnson County, including one in Alvarado. There were also confirmed tornadoes in Forney (Kaufman County) and in Hunt County.

Another severe weather event followed on April 14 with numerous hailstorms. Hail as large as 2 inches in diameter impacted portions of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The strong cyclone that produced the severe weather brought strong gusty winds to North Texas the following day.

On April 15, wind gusts in excess of 50 mph spread numerous large wildfires across hundreds of square miles. (The image below shows the smoke being carried by the strong winds.) The massive wildfire at Possum Kingdom Lake charred nearly 150,000 acres. The blaze consumed 166 homes and 2 churches before finally being contained nearly 2 weeks later.

Consecutive days of severe weather ended with one of the more prolific tornado outbreaks in recent years. On April 23, a tornado was spotted in Comanche County. Several more tornadoes were reported on April 25. This included twisters in Erath, Somervell, Johnson, Ellis, and Hill as well as tornadoes in Limestone, Freestone, and Leon. The tornado outbreak continued on April 26 with the tornadic storms shown below.

Perhaps lost amidst the fires and tornadic storms were the consistently warm temperatures during the month.

April 2011 ranks among the warmest on record for both Dallas/Fort Worth and Waco. Waco recorded its warmest average high temperature on record.